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A Final Push Falls Short

Posted Apr 28, 2014
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

At the end of this six-game, first-round series, two facts became abundantly clear.

First, when the Pittsburgh Penguins played at full pace and passion, the game was too rich and too fast for these young, workman-like Blue Jackets. Second, the Blue Jackets did not let that talent imbalance dissuade them from giving the Penguins everything they could handle – and more than most thought possible.

Down 4-0 through two periods last night, the Blue Jackets almost pulled off their third did-I-just-see-that? comeback of this Stanley Cup playoff series, scoring three goals in less than five minutes to set up a nervy finish. Ultimately the Penguins held on to win 4-3 and won the series four games to two.

But a soldout crowd of 19,189 in Nationwide Arena showed its appreciation by chanting CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! long after the final buzzer sounded and all through the ceremonial handshakes.

“This isn’t how anybody in this room wanted this to end,” Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky said. “All 27 of us believed we could beat that team, and we still feel that way. I want to play them again tomrorow, but I know that’s not possible.

“We came a long way. We grew a lot as a team. We didn’t go anywhere near as far as we wanted to go, but I can say it and mean it: I’m proud of these guys, and I’m excited as (heck) for the future here.”

The Blue Jackets came back from a 3-1 deficit to win Game 2, a 3-0 deficit to win Game 4 and nearly pulled off an even steeper climb last night.

“We have a rivalry born between the Penguins and the Blue Jackets,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. “They gave us everything we could handle.”

Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin had the second post-season hat trick of his career and the 13th in Penguins’ franchise history. The Penguins led 4-0 after two periods, giving them seven straight goals scored dating back to the second period in Game 5 on Saturday.

It was 40 minutes of hell at the end of Saturday, and 40 minutes of hell at the start tonight.

At 10:21 of the third, Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin scored a short-handed goal on a wrister from the right circle, cutting the lead to 4-1.

At 13:54, Jackets center Artem Anisimov scored through a Dubinsky screen from the left circle to make it 4-2.

“We knew if we could score one or two they’d tighten up, start grippin’ their sticks and go into prevent defense,” Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson said. “We were coming in waves.”

At 15:13, only 79 seconds after Anisimov’s goal, Jackets left wing Nick Foligno ramped a Tyutin pass through Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 4-3.

“With 4 ½ minutes left, after we got our third goal, I felt like anything could happen, I really did,” Richards said. “The way the game was going, you could feel the energy; our bench had some life. “We’d done it two games ago, our last time in this building (Game 4). My thought was it was going to happen.”

In Game 4, Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury left his net in the closing seconds of regulation, watched the puck hop over his stick and allowed the tying goal with 23.2 seconds remaining. The Jackets won in overtime on Foligno's goal.

Incredibly, Fleury started to leave his net again on a puck rimmed around the glass with roughly 40 seconds to play. Here, sounding like overcaffeinated squirrel, is Fleury's explanation of what he saw:

“I was kind of going, and then I changed my mind – maybe I should stay,” Fleury said. “And then I thought , maybe I should go … and just show everybody that (the puck) doesn’t always bounce over your stick.

"Then I thought, ‘I don’t need to show anybody. Just get back in the net.'"

The Blue Jackets nearly scored in the final minute, but a backhand flip by Dubinsky sailed just wide.

“There’s no way we were cashing it in,” Johnson said. “Crazier things have happened in hockey. We were this close again. If we would have tied it up, I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

The Blue Jackets will gather in Nationwide late this morning to begin the painful process of cleaning out their lockers. The Jackets set franchise records with 43 regular-season wins and 93 points, and they won the first two playoff games in franchise history.

As of this moment, that doesn't mute the pain.

“We’ve set the bar high here, as high as it can go,” Johnson said. “We came a long way, and it was great to bring the fans with us. But I feel like we’re just getting started here.”

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